


Nothing But The Truth

by NainThePain



Category: Runaways (Comics), Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Because Molly's just little, CW - mentioned character deaths of characters that all came back to life, Canon Divergence - Post Volume 5 Issue 10, Chase Stein loves his family, Chase apologizes for killing Nico, F/F, Family, Family Bonding, Kiss Marry Punch, My First Fanfic, Never Have I Ever, Nico and Karolina are in love, Nico is finally forced to talk about her feelings, So no one's actually dead, Telling the truth, Truth or Dare, Victor's just a head, read the comics, that's a thing that happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:20:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24735304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NainThePain/pseuds/NainThePain
Summary: After so much time apart, the Runaways are finally a family again. But when Chase insists that a truth spell would help with family bonding time, confessions are made.
Relationships: Karolina Dean/Nico Minoru
Comments: 5
Kudos: 103





	Nothing But The Truth

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction ever, and I finally decided to share it because there is just not enough Runaways content out there! Also if you haven't already, please check out the comics, they are actually so good. The current Rainbow Rowell run is basically the best thing ever. Anyways, I felt like a lot of the stuff that happened between runs was never addressed, so here's some of that, I guess.

“Chase, this is a terrible idea.”

“But Nico, you agreed!”

“I agreed to family bonding time, not whatever it is you seem to have planned…” Nico objects, following Chase towards the main room of the Hostel. 

“Trust me, it’ll be great! There’s nothing to worry about!” the boy exclaims confidently as they round the corner and the rest of their family comes into view. 

Old Lace is napping with Rufus on the floor next to the couch where Gert’s sitting. The purple haired girl is deep in conversation with Victor’s head in her lap, while Molly and Karolina are sprawled out on the floor, engrossed in a conversation of their own. 

Chase clears his throat loudly as they enter, and everyone stops their conversations to look up at him. 

“I know our family’s been through some rough times lately,” he begins, an edge of sadness creeping into his voice that he does his best to push aside. “But now that we’re back together, all of us,” he looks towards Gert as he says these words, before continuing. “I think it’s important that we do some family bonding. Get reacquainted and find out what happened to each other the past couple years.” 

Gert rolls her eyes, but Victor, Molly, and Karolina all nod eagerly along with Chase’s words, sharing in his excitement of finally spending some quality time with their family after so long. 

Turning to Nico, Chase continues his announcement as he addresses the group once more. “Nico has so graciously agreed to help us out with a spell, because I’m thinking that we have to do things differently this time around. I can’t lose anyone else, especially over a lack of communication,” he says, his voice cracking briefly before he regains his composure. “So I think this time we need to be honest. Really, truly, honest. I’m talking truth spell levels of honesty here, guys. But we won’t do it unless everyone agrees, so what do you all say?” 

A chorus of nods and agreement follow Chase’s question, along with Gert’s mutterings about honesty not always being the best policy before ultimately agreeing. Soon all eyes are on Nico as they wait for her opinion. 

She’s about to say no, to tell them that this is a stupid idea, that she just got them all back and she’s not ready to scare them all away for good by baring her soul to them. But then Karolina meets her eyes, and she thinks about all the times that she could’ve gotten exactly what she wanted if she had only been honest. Honest with herself, or with others. She sighs and turns towards an expectant Chase, the look on his face slightly reminiscent of that of a puppy. 

“Fine,” she says, before taking a deep, steadying breath. 

“ **When blood is shed, let the staff of one emerge!** ” she shouts in a voice not quite her own, and she feels the familiar slither of the staff as it crawls out of her chest from where it rested between her heartbeats. As much as she hates using her staff, she can always breathe better when it’s out. 

“Wait, but she’s not bleeding, is she?” Molly asks confusedly. 

Nico ignores the younger girl’s question as Karolina leans over to whisper something in Molly’s ear, understanding slowly dawning on her face. 

It always brought up unwanted questions, but at least there were a few days a month Nico could summon the staff without having to hurt herself. 

Focusing her attention back on the staff, Nico holds it out towards the centre of the room. 

“ **Nothing but the truth!** ” shouts that same voice, and a slight chill runs through the Hostel. 

Nobody speaks for a minute, until Molly breaks the silence. “How do we know if it worked?” she asks, looking to Nico for an answer. 

The girl in question shrugs. “Ask someone a question they don’t want to answer and see what happens, I guess.” 

When no one says anything, Chase turns towards Nico. “Okay Nico, what’s something you don’t want to tell us?” he asks innocently. 

Nico clenches her jaw as an answer pops into her head. She tries to swallow down the lump forming in her throat, but all of the sudden all she can do is admit the answer out loud, for everyone to hear. 

“I hooked up with Alex for like three months after Murderworld,” she rushes out, unable to stop herself. She winces as she feels heat rush to her cheeks, and she stares intently at the floor as she waits for her friends’ reactions. 

“Alex is alive?” Gert asks at the same time as Karolina says “You and Alex?”

Nico’s eyes snap up to Karolina’s, and she swears she can read hurt all across her face before the blond’s expression becomes carefully neutral, and she wonders if the hurt was even there in the first place. 

The goth quickly turns her attention to Gert, because her question is one she’s much more comfortable answering. “He’s not quite alive,” she explains, “but he’s not entirely dead either. It’s complicated.” 

“He betrayed us, Nico,” Gert says, and Nico knows she’s not imagining the hurt in _her_ eyes. “He wanted to kill the rest of us, how could you forgive him for that?” 

“It wasn’t like that. I didn’t, and I don’t, forgive him. But I was in a bad place. Murderworld was- Murderworld was rough. I needed something to hold on to. And as much as I hated that it was him, Alex was that something,” Nico explains, as much as she tries not to, keeping her gaze on the floor the whole time. 

When she looks up again, Gert’s face has softened. “Okay. It’s okay,” she says, looking at Nico sympathetically. “I don’t get it, but if he’s what you needed then okay.”

Nico nods once, then redirects her attention back to the floor. She should’ve known that any idea that came out of Chase’s mouth would not end well for her. Why had she agreed to this again?

“How about we play some sort of game?” Karolina suggests from where she’s sitting on the floor, carefully avoiding Nico’s gaze as she tries to lighten the heavy mood that was currently settled around the kids. 

“Yeah! Like Truth or Dare!” Molly exclaims excitedly, looking around for approval. “Please?” she adds when nobody answers. 

“Sure Molls, sounds like a plan,” Chase nods as he takes a seat next to Molly on the floor, motioning to the space between him and Karolina as he gestures for Nico to join them. 

Hesitantly, Nico takes her seat in the circle, making sure to leave plenty of space between her and Karolina. She may have agreed to this because she regretted not being honest with the other girl in the past, but she was starting to think that she had simply missed her chance, and that being honest with her now wouldn’t help anything. 

“Let’s just do truths though, so we don’t waste the spell,” Chase suggests, pulling Nico out of her head. 

They all nod, some more enthusiastically than others. 

“I’ll go first,” Karolina says once everyone is settled. “What’s something cool you did since we went our separate ways?” 

Nico almost laughs at the way Karolina makes the falling apart of their family sound so trivial, like they just lost touch for a minute there and not split up for nearly two years, leaving her so completely and utterly alone for so long. Luckily her spell only seems to compel her to speak when she is asked a direct question, so she manages to keep her mouth shut. 

“I’ll go first!” Molly says excitedly, before pausing to think for a minute. “The coolest thing that happened was when I scored the winning goal at the biggest soccer game of the year! We were playing the blue team, who were our biggest competition, and then right at the end when it looked like we were going to tie, I used my Princess Powerful strength and just kicked the ball all the way across the field and right into the net! The whole crowd cheered for me and then my team lifted me up on their shoulders and carried me around the field!” 

After a series of congratulations and high fives, five sets of eyes turn to Gert, who is sitting on the couch directly behind Molly. 

She shrugs, looking down at Victor’s head that she’s holding in her lap. “I didn’t die, thanks to Chase and Nico. That’s the big thing, I guess.” 

Molly and Karolina both get up to offer Gert hugs while the other three give her sympathetic smiles. 

Once Karolina and Molly are seated again, Victor speaks up. “I fought alongside Vision and Ant-Man to save a ton of people and defeat a giant, reprogrammed robot,” he says with a proud smirk, before doing his best to answer the barrage of questions both Molly and Chase direct his way. 

When it’s Chase’s turn to answer, he gives his response like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “I saved Gert,” he states simply, beaming up at the girl with his dumb grin and relief in his eyes. 

Finally it’s Nico’s turn, and she averts her eyes before answering. “Umm, I guess I fought with Captain Marvel?” she says truthfully. 

“Whoa that’s so cool!” Molly beams from where she’s sitting, causing Nico to look up and smile. 

“You do mean alongside her and not against her though, right?” Gert asks, earning her a shush from Victor but shrugging him off. 

Nico lets out a small laugh before answering. “I mean, we didn’t always see eye to eye, and we definitely argued a lot, but yeah, we mostly fought on the same side.”

They go through a few more rounds of truths, only hitting light topics, and laughing together when Victor asks everyone what the most embarrassing thing that happened to them was. (Gert says it’s that she needed Chase to save her, and Chase just beams at the mention anyways.) (Karolina says it’s when her bracelet fell off when she was at the theatre with Julie and the whole room lit up until they could find it. Nico’s jaw clenches at the mention of Karolina’s ex, and the thought of what they could have been doing to make her bracelet fall off in the first place bothers her more than she cares to admit.) (Chase can’t decide on just one thing, and ends up telling multiple stories that each end in him accidentally blowing up various projects he’s been working on.) 

Eventually they run out of questions and they fall into a comfortable silence, everyone feeling much more relaxed than they had when they first started. 

Molly finally speaks up, breaking the silence again. “Can we play Never Have I Ever now? I’ve always wanted to play!”

Everyone agrees, not quite ready to be done spending time together just yet. 

“Never have I ever been a grown up,” Molly starts, sticking out her tongue as Nico, Karolina, and Chase put down a finger. 

“Umm guys?” Victor calls from where Gert has deposited his head next to her on the couch. “How exactly am I supposed to do this?”

After a beat of silence, everyone laughs, and Molly offers to let Victor use one of her hands to track his score. 

They continue playing and Karolina ends up being the first one out, everyone else being down to one finger each. It’s Molly’s turn to ask the question and she’s been taking her time to think of it. 

“Just ask the question already, Molls!” Chase complains from where he’s now lying on the floor. 

“I need a good one though…” Molly says, still contemplating. 

“If you get a really good one you could win this round,” Karolina says as she looks at the fingers everyone’s holding up. “Can you think of anything everyone but you has done?”

Molly nods hesitantly. “I have one that will get almost everybody else out, I think. But I don’t think I should say it. It’s not very nice…” 

“It’s fine, Molly,” Gert says annoyedly before turning to Nico. “The spell’s still up, right?” Nico nods, and Gert turns back to Molly. “What’s the question?”

Molly turns her attention to the floor in front of her as she speaks. “Never have I ever died,” she says meekly. 

The room is silent as Gert, Chase, and Molly on Victor’s behalf all put down their last finger. 

“Alternate timeline versions of you count too right? Should I be putting two fingers down then?” Gert asks in an attempt at a joke, but the mood remains dark. 

Molly starts to sniffle and Karolina is quick to put an arm around her. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said it,” Molly mumbles into Karolina’s shoulder, as Rufus, who had just woken up sensing Molly’s distress, crawls into her lap. 

Karolina is about to respond when she notices Nico put down her last finger. Their eyes meet and Karolina searches the other girl’s face for confirmation, and her heart nearly stops when she finds it. Suddenly she can’t breath, and her vision is blurring as her eyes fill with tears. She knew Nico had been through a lot during their years apart. She hasn’t quite been the same since their family reunited. But Karolina didn’t once think- how could she have known? While she was in a healthy relationship, starting her post-secondary education, and planning for the future, Nico was in a situation that got her killed. She should’ve been there. Even disregarding her long-buried feelings for the other girl, which if she’s being honest, isn’t something she was ever able to do, Nico is her family. She should’ve been there. 

Karolina stops her thoughts there and takes deep, calming breaths to keep herself from spiraling. She had no way of knowing what Nico was going through, and Nico is here now, which is what’s important. The breaths help, and so does having her arms around Molly, and soon her heart rate is under control again. Molly’s sniffles have subsided, and Karolina moves back over to her spot on the floor only to see Nico stand suddenly and storm off to another room. She moves to get up and go after her, but Chase stops her. 

“I should go talk to her,” he says, studiously avoiding eye contact. “There are some things I should’ve said a long time ago that I need to say now.”

And with that cryptic message, Chase is out the door to follow Nico. 

“Nico, hey, wait,” he says as he catches up to her, grabbing her by the arm.

She turns to face him and he can see the tears in her eyes that are threatening to fall. 

“I’m so, so sorry,” he says, and his voice cracks as his own tears spill down his cheeks. 

Nico just nods, not trusting her own voice, and wraps her arms around the boy in front of her, her tears finally falling. 

“I would never, ever hurt you on purpose, and I feel so sick just thinking about what she made me do to you. I’m so, so glad you’re okay,” he whispers as he holds her tightly. “I hope you know that.”

“I do,” Nico whispers back, and she means it. 

They rejoin the others a few minutes later, after having cleaned up their tear stained faces. Chase gives her a smile as they take their seats, and Nico returns it. 

When Nico sits down, Karolina’s quickly by her side, taking her hand in her own. Nico’s surprised by the gesture, but tries not to show it. She only slightly succeeds at that, but Karolina just gives her a small smile in return. After so much time together, Nico knows Karolina almost better than she knows herself, and she can tell when the other girl’s smiles are genuine. This smile right now isn't, and Nico can see the worry it’s so poorly masking. She gives Karolina’s hand a reassuring squeeze as she turns her attention back to the rest of the group. 

“I mean, I guess we can play if it’s that important to you…” Chase is saying as he rubs the back of his neck. 

“I want to say no to stay true to how I want you all to perceive me as a person, but the truth is I’m willing to give my answer if it means I can hear everyone else’s,” Gert says before slapping a hand over her mouth. “Stupid truth spell,” she mutters with a sigh. 

“Karolina? Nico?” Molly asks the two girls expectantly as Rufus purrs happily from her lap. 

“I don’t know what the question is, but I’m in if it’ll make you happy, Molls,” Karolina says sweetly to the younger girl, who then turns her attention to Nico. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about either, but I’m in if it’ll make Karolina happy,” Nico says before blushing a bright shade of red and avoiding Karolina’s gaze. She can’t quite bring herself to pull her hand away though, and the way the other girl is running her thumb over her knuckles is making her feel slightly less mortified. 

“Yay!” Molly squeals excitedly. “Okay so we’re going to play Kiss, Marry, Punch, which my friend Abigail taught me, and I still want to play it even though it turns out she’s a bad person.” After receiving a few sympathetic smiles, as well as a nuzzle from Rufus, Molly continues. “Okay, I’ll go first. I kiss Old Lace on the cheek, marry Gert so she doesn’t leave us again, and I don’t want to punch anyone since I’m so strong that it’ll really hurt you, so I pass on that one. Who’s next?”

When no one responds, Victor speaks up. “I kiss Nico, marry Gert, and punch Chase, sorry buddy,” he says with a smirk. Gert turns bright red at his comment and clears her throat repeatedly before going next. 

“Can I pick the same person for two of them?” she asks before continuing. “Because I kiss Chase, marry Victor, and then punch Chase.”

“Seriously guys?” Chase asks, mock offended. “Do you all really think I’m the most punch-worthy?”

When his question is met with nods and agreement from everyone except Molly and a still sleeping Old Lace, his offense becomes a bit more genuine, but he laughs it off. 

“I’m not going to lie, that hurt, but I guess it’s fair. I kiss Nico, marry Gert, and punch Victor. _Sorry buddy_ ,” he mocks the line Victor used on him minutes earlier. 

“Does everyone want to kiss Nico?” Gert asks, mildly annoyed. 

“To be fair, she’s a really good kisser,” Victor defends honestly as Chase and Karolina nod in agreement and Nico hides her face behind her free hand. 

“Wait, Karolina, when did you kiss Nico?” Gert asks curiously. 

“When I came out to her, we kissed for a second before she let me down, right before Xavin showed up,” Karolina shrugs, and Nico can’t help but flinch at the memory. It had been a good kiss, a great kiss really, at least until Nico had messed it all up two seconds in. 

“Okay, next,” Molly says, trying to move the game along now that she’s realized it’s nowhere near as exciting as Abigail had made it out to be. 

“Kiss Gert, marry Nico, punch Chase,” Karolina says casually, and Nico has to remind herself that it doesn’t mean anything. Karolina’s only saying she wants to marry her because it’s a game and she has to choose someone, and since Molly’s too young that only leaves her and Gert. And she’d rather kiss Gert than her, so that really was her only option. She swallows and clears her throat before she answers, praying that her voice comes out somewhere within the realm of normal. 

“I guess, kiss Victor, marry Karolina, punch Chase,” she says as nonchalantly as she can manage, but her voice still wavers and she’s sure everyone can hear it. Karolina’s hand that’s still wrapped firmly around her own tightens at her words. 

“Okay, seriously? You too, Karolina? How come everyone wants to punch me? What gives?” Chase exclaims in mock outrage. It hurts a little, but he knows his family loves him, and deep down he doesn’t mind being teased, because his family has to be together for them to all make fun of him in the first place, and that’s all that really matters to him. 

“I don’t really know how to tell you this, but it’s true. You’re just very… punchable,” Gert tells him, and they all laugh. 

Chase feigns offense as he clutches his hand to his chest. “Your words wound me! Tell me it isn’t true, Nico!” Chase says as he laughs along. 

“To be fair, Victor’s a good kisser and I’m in love with Karolina, so unless I want to punch Gert or Molly, you’re kind of my only option,” she rationalizes, only realizing what she said after the words have spilled from her mouth. Not that she would’ve been able to stop them anyways. Stupid Chase and his stupid truth spell. 

Nico holds her breath as the room goes silent, Karolina’s hand going rigid in her own. She can’t risk a look at the other girl, too afraid of what she might find in her eyes, so instead she locks eyes with Chase. Sensing her desperation, he quickly clears his throat. 

“Okay, so I think that’s enough for today. Maybe we can go back to board games for the next family bonding night?” he asks, receiving awkward nods from everyone in the room. “I’m going to go work on dinner,” he says finally before leaving the room. 

Nico quickly follows suit, pulling her hand away from Karolina’s and all but running towards her room. She nearly slams the door once she’s inside, throwing herself onto her bed. 

She curls up into a ball and it’s not long before she feels the all too familiar sensation of the staff slithering its way back inside her sternum. She holds her breath and waits for it to pass, too emotionally drained to bother fighting it. At least the spell is over now. 

A few more minutes pass, and she’s lying on her back as she runs her hands across her face, willing the tears not to come, when there’s a quiet knock at the door. Before she can react, the door creaks open and she peeks through her fingers to find Karolina standing shyly at the threshold. 

“Can I come in?” Karolina asks, seemingly unsure as Nico hastily sits up. She enters carefully, closing the door behind her when the other girl nods as she wipes at her eyes with the back of her hand. 

She sits down on the bed tentatively next to Nico, close enough for them to feel each other's presence but not quite touching. They sit in an almost comfortable silence for a few minutes, because even after everything that’s happened between them, they’re still best friends. 

Karolina finally breaks the silence, looking at Nico with so much tenderness that it makes the other girl want to cry. 

“I would ask you if you meant what you said earlier, but even without your spell, I think I know that you did,” she says in a whisper, as if Nico might disappear if she says it too loud. And to be fair, Nico thinks that might be true. 

Taking a deep breath, Nico stands and turns to face Karolina. “I’m so, so sorry,” she says, ignoring the way her voice cracks on the last word. “At first I wanted to tell you. That’s why I agreed to this whole stupid idea of Chase’s, but then I realized it was all a huge mistake but I still couldn’t stop it from coming out. I know- _I know_ that I messed up, that I missed my chance when you told me how you felt years ago, and I couldn’t see what was right in front of me until it was too late. But I can see it now. It’s you, Karrie. It’s always been you.”

Karolina stands up to face Nico, her eyes searching the shorter girl’s face for something, Nico isn’t sure what. 

“Nico, I-” she starts, but Nico won’t, can’t let her finish. 

“I know, you don’t have to explain. You only said you’d marry me because there weren’t any other options. I know it didn’t mean-” she rambles, but then suddenly Karolina grabs Nico’s hands and brings them to rest gently on her waist. 

Nico can’t breathe, can’t think, as Karolina steps closer, entirely into Nico’s personal space as she wraps her arms around the other girl’s neck. Karolina’s face is so close to hers that Nico can feel her breath against her cheek. Being this close to Karolina, it’s intoxicating in all the best ways, and Nico can’t do this, not if it’s all going to get ripped away from her again. She’s about to step back when Karolina speaks again. 

“Nico, I didn’t say I wanted to marry you because you were my only option in the game,” she whispers, and it sends a shiver down Nico’s spine. 

“You- you didn’t?” she manages somehow, barely able to form coherent thoughts, let alone words, due to Karolina’s effect on her. 

“No,” Karolina shakes her head softly, resting her forehead against Nico’s. “I said I wanted to marry you because you’ve always been my only option. I know life has thrown us apart so many times- we’ve almost lost each other so many times, but whenever I imagine my future, you’re always right there with me, with a ring on your finger.”

Nico gulps. It’s really hard not to just lean forward and close the barely-there distance that’s between the two of them right now, but she also doesn’t want Karolina to stop talking, to stop saying things she’s only ever imagined her saying to her in her wildest dreams. 

“Karolina Dean, are you proposing to me?” Nico whispers, her voice hoarse, unsure as to what is happening or where this conversation is going. 

The taller girl throws her head back and laughs, and Nico thinks it’s the most beautiful sound she’s ever heard. 

“Not right now, Nico Minoru,” she says, leaning in impossibly closer. “But someday.”

And then she’s closing the distance, bringing their lips together softly, letting Nico finally have what she’s so desperately wanted for so long, and she feels like she’s flying, like everything has finally fallen into place. They kiss slowly and sweetly, like they have all the time in the world, and Nico supposes that they do. When they finally have to break apart to breathe, Nico’s grin splits her entire face, and Karolina’s sporting a matching one. 

Karolina makes to lean back in, but Nico pulls back just a little before she can, careful to maintain the closeness she has become so fond of already. 

“Nico?” Karolina asks, her eyelids fluttering as her gaze bounces between Nico’s eyes and lips before settling on the latter. Nico waits until the other girl’s gaze moves back up to her eyes before speaking. 

“I love you, Karrie,” Nico says, firmly and confidently, looking into Karolina’s blue, blue eyes, and then says it again just for good measure. “I love you so much, and I’m sorry it took me so long to see it.”

“Shh Nico, it’s okay. We’re here now, and that’s what matters,” Karolina reassures her, holding her close. “And I love you too.” And then she’s pulling Nico back to her, leaving the two girls standing in Nico’s bedroom in the Hostel, grinning against each other’s lips, ready to finally, _finally_ , face the world together.


End file.
